Maggie’s Christmas Cheese Ball/La Fromagerie Les Folies Bergères.
We bring the curtain down on 2022 with the help of friends in fromage recalling the most memorable cheese that crossed their palates during the past 12 months. We add our favourites, too.
Check out the tasting notes and make up your shopping list for the next visit to acheese shop or, better yet, right to the cheesemaker. If you like, you can order online for convenient home delivery.
Let’s begin with cheese educator and cheese sommelier Vanessa Simmons, our BF in fromage:
My most memorable cheese taste of 2022 is Maggie’s Christmas Cheese Ball by Maggie Paradis of La Fromagerie Les Folies Bergères. Not only does Maggie make a variety of amazing goat, sheep and cow milk cheeses, but she and her husband, shepherd Christian Girard, are passionate, talented and wonderful people.
This coveted, sell-out cheese makes an appearance once a year for the holidays and is a combination of Maggie’s locally made cow and sheep milk cream and hard cheeses with a few added extras like scallions, lemon juice and sriracha that deliver its zing and umami, savoury flavour. Finished with crushed pecans for festive flair, it’s the best, silky, cheesecake-like cheese ball you will ever enjoy—made with love.
Pair with a local oaky Chardonnay, caramelized onion, bacon or apricot/peach jam and your favourite crusty baguette or sourdough bread and you have an instant party on your hands.
One of my most memorable cheese this year was Greystone, produced by Katie and Will at River’s Edge Goat Dairy. They use the milk from their herd of goats, located at their farm near Arthur, Ontario.
The appearance of this ash-coated, white bloomy rind goat ball reminds me of a French Bonde de Gâtine cheese. As Greystone ripens, its paste becomes creamier and develops a more noticeable goat aroma.
It is a delicious artisanal farmstead cheese!
Jackie Armet is a longtime friend in cheese who has worked with me as cheese co-ordinator at The Great Canadian Cheese Festival and then the Canadian Cheese Awards. A graduate of the Professional Fromager program at George Brown College in Toronto, Jackie lives in Prince Edward County and offers in-person tutored tastings and consulting services via Cheese Experience.
Wildwood/Stonetown Artisan Cheese.
My most memorable and impressive cheese this year is Wildwood made by Stonetown Artisan Cheese in St. Marys, Ontario. It was given to me as a mystery cheese and I felt it was from Europe. It has all the features that make Comte and Appenzeller outstanding. It could certainly be a challenger to the throne.
For Debbie Levy, longtime cheese educator, the cheese experience of the year was delivered by Blue Moo made by COWS Creamery of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Blue Moo/COWS Creamery.
We are fortunate in Canada to have some great blue cheese makers and now I have added Blue Moo to the list. Love the texture of this triple cream. Although it’s a milder blue, there is something about its buttery savoury notes that just has me reaching for more!
During a cross-Canada road trip this year, we spent the better part of a day with Chef Dustin Peltier in the tiny make room at Loaf and Honey in Winnipeg learning about the trials and tribulations of producing Golden Prairie.
Golden Prairie/Loaf and Honey.
The recipe and method behind the cheese dates back to the 1700s in Trappist monasteries in France. It has been made in Manitoba by Trappist monks at Notre Dame des Prairies monastery since 1918, since the 1940s by Brother Alberic. When Dustin Peltier learned Brother Alberic, then in his 80s, planned to stop making Fromage de la Trappe, he was determined to continue the tradition. He spent a year being mentored by Brother Alberic, aiming to continue making the cheese in its traditional way, with raw, unpasteurized milk.
Unfortunately, Dustin ran into a bureaucratic maze at Manitoba Agriculture, which prevented him—or any other artisan producer in the province—from using raw milk in cheese production. Thus, he was forced to use non-homogenized, pasteurized organic cow milk in the making of Golden Prairie. The cheese is still hand-washed daily and aged for 60 days before being released to the public.
Golden Prairie has a unique flavour profile, with a touch of tang and loads of dairy. Only available for purchase in Manitoba at selected cheese shops.
We’ve already reported on how the world’s first Chaga Cheddar came to be with its unique appearance and distinctive flavour, all the result of cheddar curds soaking in a bath of chaga tea before being molded, pressed and aged for up to seven weeks. The resulting cheese is beautifully marbled and has a creamy texture and mild, nutty flavour.
Clothbound Cheddar/Lakeside Farmstead.
The other memorable cheese we discovered was Lakeside Farmstead Clothbound Cheddar, a truly full-flavoured cheddar. Each wheel is made in the old-world tradition, hand-wrapped with cheesecloth, then sealed with wax and carefully aged for a minimum of one year. Clothbound Cheddar exhibits delightful nutty, fruity/citrus and caramel/sweet undertones with a complex and lingering finish. It has some crumble and crystallization providing a desirable mouth feel. All in all, it’s really delicious.
Lakeside cheese is available only in Alberta at present, from selected cheese shops and a retail store at the farm open Wednesday through Saturday.
—Georgs Kolesnikovs
Georgs Kolesnikovs, Cheese-Head-in-Chief at CheeseLover.ca, has never met a cheese he didn’t like . . . well, hardly ever. Follow him on his travels across Canada on Substack at On the Road, Across the Sea.
The Extra Old Cheddar made by the P.E.I. cheese producer was honoured as Grand Champion Cheddar in the 2022 Canadian Cheese & Butter Competition presented by Dairy Farmers of Ontario at the 100th Anniversary Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.
The victory in the oldest and biggest cheese and butter competition in Canada represents the latest in a long list of awards garnered by a remarkable cheddar whose recipe hails from the Orkney Islands north of mainland Scotland.
In 2004, Cows Creamery owner Scott Linkletter visited the Orkney Islands where his family has roots. He fell in love with the taste of the local cheese and returned with a recipe for traditional English cheddar and a dream to make cheese with local milk in P.E.I.
Linkletter enlisted the help of Armand Bernard, who had already been working at Cows as an ice-cream maker for 10 years, meaning Bernard was no stranger to transforming P.E.I. milk into something extraordinary.
Cows Creamery introduced Extra Old Cheddar to the world in 2006.
They developed Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar and the wonderful aged cheddar that in 2014 was selected as the World’s Best Aged Cheddar and last week at The Royal as Canada’s best cheddar—for, it seems, the umpteenth time.
The recipe for all cheddars made by Cows Creamery is essentially the same—except for the aging process and length of time in affinage.
Bernard, the lead cheesemaker at Cows since 2006, is known for his meticulous attention to detail. Andrea White, wholesale manager at Cows, says his consistency is part of the reason Cows Creamery products are a cut above the rest: “Armand leads a team of professionals that never waiver on the quality and precision of their work. Every day is different; from cloth-binding fresh wheels of cheddar, to flipping and vacuuming the cheeses as they age in their caves, ensuring uniformity in their aging—consistency is always part of the job”.
Bernard believes high-quality P.E.I. milk plays a key role in their success. Cows Creamery works with a local dairy co-op that supports 160 small, family-run farms on the island. The average herd size is a mere 65 Holstein cattle and care is taken by each farmer to maintain clean farming practices. Throughout the year, the cows graze on clay- and iron-rich pasture and eat a mixed diet of hay, grain, and silage. Sea salt and minerals are naturally occurring in the environment, too, which gives the cheeses unique earthy notes.
No point on the island is more than 30 kilometres or so from the sea.
The Extra Old Cheddar is aged for at least 18 months. It’s made with vegetable rennet, all natural, with no colour added. The cheese is made with unpasteurized milk: The milk is gently heated, which preserves the micro-organisms and enzymes in raw milk that give cheddar its characteristic flavour.
Like wine, cheese has a terroir, says Bernard. “The area it’s produced in—whether it’s the nutrients in the soil or the air the cows breathe—has certain things that can’t be replicated. On the island, we’re surrounded by water. We have the red soil. I don’t believe I could take the same recipe to central or western Canada and create the same product.”
For Cows Creamery, Bernard says, the trick to making “absolutely delicious” cheese is the aging process.
“The real flavour comes with time as the cheese ages,” he says. “Some cheese will get sharper, ours becomes more flavourful, with more depth of character.”
Bernard grew up on a small farm near Tignish, about 150 kilometres northwest of Charlottetown where Cows Creamery is based.
“We were a small farm, milked 24 cows. I had six brothers and sisters. It was all hands on deck. We had chores in the barn before we went to school and helped with the milking at night. Summers were spent at home working the fields. It was an awesome way to grow up.”
Did your family make anything with the milk?
“No, but we drank two gallons a day when everybody was home. It was delicious. In the summertime, you’d have the cream rise to the top, and you’d have it on strawberry shortcake. I got to know milk well.”
Culture magazine, the leading publication about cheese in the English-speaking world, had this to say about the taste of Cows Creamery Extra Old Cheddar:
“Although on first glance the texture of this cheese is semi-firm and crumbly, on the palate it’s unexpectedly creamy and smooth, melting in the mouth. Its great taste hits you immediately, with a notable tang and sourness that interplays with a mild sharpness. An initial hint of sweetness can be detected, as well as rich, full toasted nut and buttery cashew aromas and notes of pineapple, chive and sweet cream.”
Cows Creamery is based at 12 Milky Way in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
COWS Ice Cream has been a family tradition on Prince Edward Island since 1983. From a small kiosk on the famous Cavendish Boardwalk in Charlottetown, the COWS brand now has seven locations across P.E.I, four in Nova Scotia, and one each is Whistler, Banff, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Quebec City and Beijing, China. The COWS brand has expanded over the years with cheese and butter lines, as well as the popular COWS-themed merchandise.
Raspberry Point Oyster Co. is a sister company shipping choice oysters throughout Canada, U.S.A., Europe and Asia. The company started as a bit of a hobby for Scott Linkletter and his father who harvested oysters near the family summer home in New London Bay.
In the 2022 Cheese & Butter Competition at The Royal, there were 195 entries submitted by producers across Canada. Judging took place June 10. Complete results are posted at https://www.assistexpo.ca/results/rawf/5/
Support for the competition was provided by the Presenting Partner, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, which has made over $30,000 in prize money available, as well as Metro which supports the competition and presents the Champions Showcase during The Fair.
The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair celebrates 100 years of world-class equine and agricultural excellence on November 4-13, 2022, at Exhibition Place in Toronto. It is the world’s largest combined indoor agricultural and equestrian show.
The Royal draws more than 300,000 visitors to Toronto annually to see thousands of unique entries from elite Canadian and international breeders, growers and exhibitors, more than 4,500 large and small animals, shows, activities, shopping, dining and—of course—The Royal Horse Show.
Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar was named Canadian Cheese of the Year at the 2016 Canadian Cheese Awards.
Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar’s recipe comes from the Orkney Islands, north of mainland Scotland, with the cheese made in the style of traditional English cheddars by Cows Creamery of Prince Edward Island.
Scott Linkletter, who started Cows Inc. in 1983 by famously making ice cream, was visiting the Orkneys with his wife 15 years ago when they were so taken by the local cheese that he cajoled a Scottish cheesemaker into sharing the recipe. The recipe became the foundation for the Cows signature cheese, Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar, introduced in 2006. Ten years later, Avonlea was named Cheese of the Yearat the Canadian Cheese Awards.
While developing the recipe for the clothbound cheddar, Linkletter and head cheesemaker Armand Bernard created a second cheese, PEI Cheddar. Other cheddars, such as Appletree Smoked, followed.
How Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar is made by Cows Creamery in Prince Edward Island under the guidance of head cheesemaker Armand Bernard.
Milk of Holstein cows from small local farms in the rolling hills of Prince Edward Island is gently heated—but not pasteurized—to allow beneficial microbes to thrive and give depth of character and flavour. The salt air and iron-rich soil of Prince Edward Island combine to add flavour and quality to the cheddar.
Cows makes Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar in 10 kilograms wheels, and ages it for 12 to 16 months at 10–12 degrees Celsius and 90% humidity.
The multi-award-winning cheese gets the “clothbound” name from traditional cheddar-making technique of wrapping it in cheese cloth, a method that originated in Somerset, England. The town of Cheddar, where cheddar cheese gets its name from is in Somerset.
The name Avonlea comes from link between Prince Edward Island and Anne of Green Gables. As Scott Linkletter explained to Sue Riedl of The Globe and Mail: “We thought that was a great name because of the connection with Anne of Green Gables. At the time of Anne, this is the way cheese would have been made.”
COWS Ice Cream has been a family tradition on Prince Edward Island since 1983. From a small kiosk on the famous Cavendish Boardwalk, the COWS brand now has seven locations across PEI, two in Nova Scotia, two in British Columbia and one each in Alberta, Ontario and Beijing, China. The COWS brand has expanded over the years with cheese and butter lines, as well as the popular COWS-themed merchandise.
Cheesemaker Armand Bernard pulls a sample from a wheel of Avonlea to monitor the aging process.
The Linkletter family has also invested in Raspberry Point Oysters with oysters being shipped across Canada, USA, Japan and Denmark. The oyster line started as a bit of a hobby for Scott Linkletter, who used to harvest oysters with his father near his summer home on New London Bay.
How does Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar taste? Among Canadian cheddars, quite unique, truly exceptional.
The flavours and aroma are rich and robust, fruity and nutty, with a hint of baked potatoes, as befits a cheese made on Canada’s spud island, Prince Edward Island. The texture is firm, slightly crumbly as the cheese ages beyond 12 months.
It’s an outstanding Canadian cheese, perfect for cheese boards and snacking. Stick a wedge in your glove compartment for your next road trip.
Check with your favourite cheese shop for availability or order online for convenient and safe home delivery:
You can order boxed selections of cheese and butter direct from Cows Creamery in Charlottetown by clicking here.
You can also order Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar via Amazon.ca.
Enjoy!
—Georgs
Georgs Kolesnikovs, Cheese-Head-in-Chief at CheeseLover.ca, has never met a cheese he didn’t like . . . well, hardly ever.
OMG! Bibi made by Fromagerie Domaine Féodale in Berthierville, Québec.
We bring the curtain down on 2016 with friends in fromage recalling the memorable cheeses that crossed their palates during the past 12 months. In alphabetical order, here is a baker’s dozen of outstanding cheeses of the year—plus a special mention for the 2016 Canadian Cheese of the Year and a word of advice for producers of non-dairy cheeses.
Check out the tasting notes and make up your shopping list for the next visit to a cheese shop or, better yet, right to the cheesemaker.
Bibi is a delicious, oozy, creamy, finger-licking good Camembert-style cheese made by Guy Dessureault and Lise Mercier at Fromagerie Domaine Féodale. This cheese ranks in my very selective OMG! category. It is best enjoyed and savoured with a very special person. Make the experience part of a road trip as you will have to drive to the fromagerie, halfway between Montréal and Trois-Rivières, to buy it. It is a regional treasure! The warm hospitality of the two cheesemakers and their staff, at their recently expanded facility north of Berthierville, will make you feel like you are part of their family.
—Gurth Pretty, Senior Category Manager, Deli Cheese, Loblaw Companies
Blossom Blue made by Moonstruck Organic Cheese on Vancouver Island.
Blossom’s Blue is an aged blue cheese made entirely with the unpasteurised, organic milk of Moonstruck Dairy’s own Jersey herd. Its texture is firm and dense, yet slightly crumbly. It is a touch sweet with the rich flavor of Jersey milk and a has great balance of salt and strength.
Belgium-born Didier Laurent is cheesemaker and owner at Fromagerie Au Fond Des Bois located, as its French name implies, “deep in the woods” near Rexton, New Brunswick, on 267 acres of land bordered by the St. Nicholas River. All of Didier’s cheeses are made exclusively from the milk of his own goats with no additives. The 98 dairy goats raised in his goat house include Nubians, Alpines and Saanens. This is a goat’s milk bloomy-rind cheese that could easily pass for cow’s milk cheese with a soft and flowing texture with a rich, salty, earthy flavour. I love this cheese with Pinot Noir or a bubbly.
This cheese is a relatively new blue from urban cheesemaker Lyndell Findlay. She is one of the few sheep’s milk cheese producers in Nova Scotia. She purchases her milk from a farm in Stewiack and makes the cheese at her facility on Robie Street in Halifax’s North End—the first of its kind here in the city. The cheese reminds me of a mild Roquefort with a creamy, chalky texture, delicate bite and slightly sweet finish. Perfect for the “blue-fearful” cheeselover, it’s very accessible. It pairs really well with our local, aromatic whites like Tidal Bay, especially those with a touch of balanced sweetness.
We don’t see much water buffalo milk cheese in Nova Scotia, so this is a real treat. It’s made without rennet (perhaps coagulated with an acid instead) so it is suitable for strict vegetarians. It’s a semi-soft soft, washed rind cheese with a friendlier “fetor” than some washed-rinds! At peak ripeness it is totally decadent, rich and oozy with hazelnut and salted butter notes. Superb with a full, fruity white wine or Saison (beer).
It’s a rarity, but there might be some of the 2016 stock left if folks move fast. Available at Gunn’s Hill, it’s a coveted 18-month batch, released only in December of every year. Ripened for an additional 10 months, Five Brothers Reserve becomes more rustic in appearance, almost “leathered,” with its rind developing shades of darker brown. The “eyes” in the paste are more pronounced and tiny crystals are present, a result of the aging process, a sign of a good cheese! Enjoy its fruity and malty aroma on the nose. This cheese is complex while keeping its smooth and creamy texture and finishes with a subtle bite. Waves of scotch-y, malt-y and caramel flavours ride over your palate and linger for a long time.
Ile-aux-Grues, 2-year cheddar, takes its name from its island home in the St. Lawrence River near Québec City.
Ile-aux-Grues, 2-year cheddar – Société Coopérative Agricole de l’Île-aux-Grues, Québec
At home, my personal favourite, everyday go-to cheese continues to be Ile-aux-Grues 2-year cheddar. I am never without at least 10 kg on hand. Enough flavor for character, not too much to overpower cooking or more sensitive palates. Perfect for grilled cheese, baguette and cheese, plowman’s lunch, omelettes, host gifts and drop-in entertaining.
The Tuijtels family up in Cherryville, B.C., has been producing this and many other cheeses according to their generations-old family recipes. They prefer to focus on high quality milk, and not an overly large production. This gives the Maasdammer its deep, buttery, sweet taste. Great as a base for fondue and with a crisp dry Reisling.
Another rarity to find in stores. We featured it in Savvy Cool Curds for November and it was nothing short of knock-your-socks-off yummy! Nevis comes in a larger format wheel as a washed rind cow milk cheese. A dark gold basket weave exterior compliments a golden straw interior which is cheddar-like in texture. Nevis is all buttery goodness with a tangy finish.
From Little Qualicum Cheeseworks in Parksville on Vancouver Island, Rathtrevor has quickly become one of our favorite local cheeses. Made with the unpasturised milk from their own mixed herd of Ayrshire, Brown and Canadienne cows, this Alpine-style cheese is nutty, sweet and delicious. Great on its own with a glass of wine, but also a fantastic melter.
This is a hard, 18-month, sheep’s milk Gouda made by Jeff McCourt at Glasgow Glen. Jeff bought Martina TerBeek’s business “The Cheeselady” in 2012 which was one of PEI’s only artisanal cheese business operating for 25 years specializing in Gouda. The farm is a 12-acre lot, overlooking Hunter River and Rustico Bay. This cheese has a parmesan-like flavour and texture—sharp, buttery, herbaceous, nutty,and a touch crumbly. Perfect with a hearty glass of Red.
As Canadians continue to re-examine their diets and understand that diet is a key measure in controlling health, there is rising interest in alternatives to traditional cheese.
I tried cheeses from Fauxmagerie Zengarry (Glengarry, Ontario) and Nuts For Cheese (London, Ontario) and while several of these are very good (Zengary Gruyere with cumin and Nuts for Cheese Chipotle Cheddar and Super Blue) they are not to be compared to traditional cheeses. My advice to these cheesemakers is to learn from the traditional techniques, embrace their creations for what they are, because they are good, but avoid the copy of traditional names and the implied similarity of flavor and texture experience. I can see lots of people finding this interesting.
Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar: Canadian Cheese of the Year.
Canadian Cheese of the Year
For most of 2016—until the last of it disappeared in a shrimp bake a few days ago, there was always a kilo or more of Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar in the cheese fridge at CheeseLover.ca.
Crowned Cheese of the Year in the 2016 Canadian Cheese Awards, the old-style cheddar, made according to an Orkney island recipe, is truly a Canadian classic. Now generally available across Canada, it’s a must-try cheese, if you’ve not sampled it already.
A highlight of 2016 for us was a visit to Cows Creamery in Charlottetown, P.E. I., home of Avonlea, several other outstanding cheeses, fabulous ice cream and awesome chocolates—not to mention a huge selection of T-shirts featuring cows in many different settings.
The warm hospitality shown to us by Scott Linkletter, proprietor, and Armand Bernard, cheesemaker, only made the visit more memorable.
Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar: 2016 Canadian Cheese of the Year.
Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar made by Cows Creamery in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, was proclaimed Cheese of the Year at the conclusion of the 2016 Canadian Cheese Awards in Montréal on Thursday.
Awards were also presented to 31 category winners during the Awards Ceremony at glittering Time Supper Club to bring to a climax the biennial cheese judging and competition that is open to all milks—cow, goat, sheep and water Buffalo—used in cheesemaking in Canada.
Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar was also honoured as Best Aged Cheddar (aged more than 18 months).
Appletree Smoked Cheddar, also made by Cows Creamery, also won big :
Best Smoked Cheese
Best Cow’s Milk Cheese
Best Atlantic Canada Cheese.
Happy winners: Andrea White and Armand Bertrand of Cows Creamery.
The presenting sponsor is The Great Canadian Cheese Festival in Picton, Ontario, where the Cheese of the Year and other award winners will be in the spotlight on June 4-5.
BEST ATLANTIC CANADA CHEESE – MEILLEUR FROMAGE DES PROVINCES ATLANTIQUES
· Appletree Smoked Cheddar – Cows Creamery, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
The Canadian Cheese Awards is the first cheese competition in Canada open to all milks used in cheese making – cow, goat, sheep and water buffalo – with only pure natural cheese accepted for judging. That means with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, and no modified milk ingredients.
Le Concours des fromages fins canadiens est le premier et le plus grand au Canada ouvert à tous les fromages produits au Canada à partir du lait pur de vaches, de chèvres, de brebis ou de bufflonnes canadiennes – sans colorant artificiel, parfum, agent de conservation ni substance laitière modifiée.
The 81 finalists in the 2015 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix have been announced. The prestigious biennial competition sponsored by Dairy Farmers of Canada saw 268 cheeses submitted in 27 categories.
The winners will be announced April 22 at a Gala of Champions in Toronto.
Quebec, home to the majority of Canada’s cheese producers, dominates the list of 81 finalists with 31 cheeses. Naturally, some of the larger producers have the most finalists: Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser, 7 finalists, Sylvan Star Cheese, 6, and Natural Pastures Cheese Company and Fromagerie du Presbytère, 5.
The competition, open to cheese made exclusively with Canadian cow’s milk, first started in 1998 to promote achievement and innovation in cheesemaking and to spotlight the quality of Canadian milk.
Quality Cheese of Vaughan, Ontario, which won the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix with its cow’s milk Ricotta, won the category of fresh unripened cheese made from sheep or mixed milk with its Bella Casara Buffalo Ricotta.
Canadian cheesemakers won 30 ribbons in the 2013 American Cheese Society Judging & Competition in Madison, Wisconsin, in early August, competing against 1,794 cheeses submitted by 257 producers in the Americas—the largest competition in the history of the ACS.
Twenty-three of the 30 ribbons were won by 10 Québec cheesemakers, four being first-place ribbons, two for Agropur Fine Cheese and one each for Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser, represented by Fromages CDA, and La Moutonnière.
Two Ontario producers, Mariposa Dairy, represented by Finica Food Specialties, and Quality Cheese, won first-place ribbons as well.
Best of Show was won by Cellars at Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont with the Winnimere, an extraordinary take on the French mountain classic Vachering Mont d’Or. Made with raw milk from the farm’s Ayrshire cows, Winnimere is wrapped in cambium cut from the spruce trees on the farm and washed in a beer from a neighbouring brewery. It’s available only January through June.
Here are the Canadian winners:
OPEN CATEGORY – FRESH UNRIPENED CHEESES – MADE FROM SHEEP’S MILK OR MIXED MILKS
A proud Pauline Morin shares the joy of sons Jean, right front, and Dominic, left rear, and grandson Thomas as Fromagerie du Presbytere dominated the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix with three awards, Best Blue and Best Organic for Blue d’Elizabeth and Best Swiss-type Cheese for Louis d’Or 18 months.Jan Schalkwyk of Sylvan Star Cheese was honored twice for his Grizzly Gouda, for Best Farmstead and Best Gouda. His secret? Feed the cows well as quality milk makes quality cheese.Andrea White with one of two awards for Cows Creamery. It won Best Flavoured Cheese with Applewood Smoked Cheddar and Best Aged Cheddar (1 to 3 years) with Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar.Arlla Foods won twice, Best Mozzarella with Tre Stelle Mozzarella and Best Sewmi-Soft with Tre Stelle Feta.Shep Ysselstein of Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese, a relative newcomer on the cheese scene, won Best Firm Cheese with Gunn’s Hill Five Brothers.Wayne Lain of Maple Dale Cheese won Best Medium Cheddar (4 to 9 months) with its Medium Cheddar.Robin Ferguson of Black River Cheese won Best Aged Cheddar (more than 3 years) with 5-Year Aged Cheddar.
Armand Bernard of Cows Creamery in a cheesy photo among lobster pots.
Prince Edward Island’s award-winning cheesemaker, Armand Bernard of Cows Creamery, is hosting “Meet the Cheesemaker” sampling events in Toronto and Waterloo on March 8 to 11. Bernard is the artisan behind award-winning cheeses like Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar and Cows Creamery Extra Old Cheddar.
Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar is produced according to a traditional recipe from the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland. In 2011, it won its category the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix and the American Cheese Society Competition.
Cows Creamery Extra Old Cheddar is aged for two years and is made from Prince Edward Island cow’s milk. In 2009, it won its class in the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix.
When and Where:
Thursday,March 8: 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens, 60 Carlton Street, Toronto.
Friday, March 9: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Nature’s Emporium, 16655 Yonge Street, Newmarket, Ontario.
Saturday, March 10: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Vincenzo’s, 150 Caroline Street South, Waterloo, Ontario.
Sunday,March 11: 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at McEwan, 38 Karl Fraser Road, Toronto.
Lori Legacey, cheesemaker at Mariposa Dairy, has a sniff of a 19-kilo wheel of Lindsay Bandaged Goat Cheddar which was named first runner-up in Best of Show at the American Cheese Society competition. Photo by Lisa Gervais/The Lindsay Post.
Canadian cheesemakers did remarkably well at the 2011 American Cheese Society Conference and Competition in Montreal this week, winning close to one-quarter of ribbons up for grabs. Best of all, Mariposa Dairy with Lindsay Bandaged Goat Cheddar and Fromagerie du Presbytère with Louis d’Or won Best of Show honors.
Louis d'Or, created by Jean Morin at Fromagerie Du Presbytère (photo), was named second runner-up in Best of Show at the annual ACS competition held in Canada for the first time.
HERE ARE ALL 69 CANADIAN RECIPIENTS OF RIBBONS BY CATEGORY
B. SOFT RIPENED CHEESES
White surface mold ripened cheeses – Brie, Camembert, Coulommiers, etc.
D. AMERICAN MADE / INTERNATIONAL STYLE
Cheeses modeled after or based on recipes for established European or other international types or styles – Beaufort, Abondance, Gruyère, Juustoleipa, Caerphilly, English Territorials, Leyden, Butterkäse, Monastery styles, etc.
2nd Bleu Mont Dairy, WI
Bandaged Cheddar – Wrapped and Aged Over 12 Months
3rd Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, WA
Flagship Reserve
F. BLUE MOLD CHEESES
All cheeses ripened with Roqueforti or Glaucum Penicillium (Excluded: Colorless Mycelia)
FK: Blue-veined made from cow’s milk with a rind or external coating
3rd Cabot Creamery Cooperative, MA
Cabot Unsalted Butter
S. CHEESE SPREADS
Spreads produced by grinding and mixing, without the aid of heat and/or emulsifying salts, one or more natural cheeses
SA: Open Category made from all milks – Spreads with flavors using a base with moisture higher than 44%
3rd Appleton Creamery, ME
Chevre Wrapped in Brandied Grape Leaf
V. WASHED RIND CHEESES
Cheeses with a rind or crust washed in salted brine, whey, beer, wine, other alcohol, or grape lees that exhibit an obvious, smeared or sticky rind and/or crust – Limburger, Pont l’Evêque, Chimay, Raclette, Swiss Appenzeller or Vignerons-style, etc.
Elisabeth Bzikot of Best Baa Dairy receives a first-place ribbon for her Sheepmilk Yogurt while Lucille Giroux of La Moutonniere waits for a second-place ribbon for Royogourt.
Congratulations to all Canadian winners! They are shown below in alphabetical order with a summary of their winnings which accounted for 22.5 percent of ribbons awarded.
You can also order Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar 
